Supporting South Asian mental health service users with diabetes

Download: Success Story Summary, Jan 2012 (PDF KB) / Award Entry Form (PDF KB)

The challenge

Leicester City PCT serves a very diverse community, with a large South Asian population. A survey from 2007 showed almost 5% of the population had diabetes, with some GP surgeries reporting 10 to 12% of their South Asian patients diagnosed with the condition. Leicester City PCT felt there was a gap in services for South Asian mental health services users with diabetes. The PCT wanted to make sure this group were able to access the care they needed.

The aim

The aim of the project was twofold. Firstly to work with mental health service users with diabetes from the South Asian community to better help them understand the implications of diabetes on their general health and wellbeing. Secondly, to ensure clinical staff in Leicestershire Partnership Trust (LPT) have the appropriate skills and knowledge to support individuals in self caring of their diabetes through the development of an e-learning programme and an aide-memoir document.

What did they do?

Firstly the team gathered baseline information about mental health staff’s confidence/knowledge levels about diabetes. This showed few staff had had appropriate diabetes training and many did not feel confident in their ability to give support to patient with diabetes. Additionally baseline information from service users/carers was gathered. This showed high levels of user/carer isolation; poor experience of services (e.g. from GPs); inability to challenge services and the impact of the stigma of their mental health problems on the level of practical support/sympathy received for their diabetes. In order to develop the work further focus groups were held where participants discussed their views on cultural barriers, and possible ideas to overcome them. The focus group allowed the collection of rich qualitative data regarding people’s experiences and opinions.

Clinicians were engaged throughout the whole programme, including representation from health, modern matrons and Wellbeing Link Nurses.

The information collated through the engagement process informed the development of a self care DVD for service users and e-learning module and aide-memoire document for mental health professionals, both of which highlight specific issues for people from the South Asian community who have mental health problems and diabetes.

What happened?

The project was completed at the end of summer 2011 and a full evaluation will take place in spring 2012. Some of the areas that will be evaluated include staff’s self-reported knowledge/awareness/confidence levels compared to the baseline questionnaire, self-reported user/carer levels of satisfaction, knowledge, confidence and control of own care and acute hospital emergency admission rates of people with diabetes who are mental health users. In the short term the feedback from both mental health staff and service users/carers has been very positive. Staff have reported that the e-learning programme and aide-memoir will help them to provide better care and service users have said how they have gained confidence, improved their self esteem and lost weight as a direct result of their increased knowledge of better management of their diabetes.

Key outcomes

• Production of a self-care DVD for service users and an e-learning package and aide-memoir for staff
  
• Positive feedback from both staff and service users
  
• Six month evaluation planned to compare against baseline findings